They are firing people who actually do their jobs well, yet Hasbro continues to bask in impunity. They are the worst managed thing associated with Star Wars right now and yet operate without any fear of reprisal or accountability whatsoever.

I agree with Jim, but I can say that Hasbro has been impacted by Disney so far... Nothing that really wasn't expected, but there's been some major focus changes. So I think you're both right ultimately.

I don't know about that. LucasArts hasn't self published a good game since the early '90s. They have acted mostly as distributer. Lucas licensing has given everyone and their dog a license to make Star Wars stuff. There is too much product saturation out there. Lucasfilm Animation was laughed at for the Clone Wars because of their wooden looking characters. Just look at Obiwan's hair! Lucasfilm Animation also made Rango and it was not well received. They just aren't in the same league as Pixar or even Disney Animation.

I don't know about that. LucasArts hasn't self published a good game since the early '90s. They have acted mostly as distributer. Lucas licensing has given everyone and their dog a license to make Star Wars stuff. There is too much product saturation out there. Lucasfilm Animation was laughed at for the Clone Wars because of their wooden looking characters. Just look at Obiwan's hair! Lucasfilm Animation also made Rango and it was not well received. They just aren't in the same league as Pixar or even Disney Animation.

For me the best example is to look at the How to Tame Your Dragon franchise - the movie was great - granted the adult vikings were a bit distorted for effect, the level of detail in the 3D animation was great. They have successfully translated that level of detail to the TV series that's also on Cartoon Network. I was shocked to find that watching an episode of the show was just like watching an extension of the movie, combined with the fact that the voices were being done by many of the same people, made it all the more appealing.

So if Dreamworks could do it, I don't see any reason why the Clone Wars couldn't have been better looking. Heck, if they had done something in the same league as Pixar (i.e. Brave) then we may have never needed to have a separate "animated" style figure line at all...

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Peter

Letting my collecting OCD get the better of me on a DAILY basis... and loving EVERY minute of it!

Here's more on the timeline of future Star Wars releases from Disney CEO Bob Iger. He also mentions a little bit about one of the standalone Star Wars projects:

Quote

As one of the few people allowed to visit the set during filming….and one of the fewer who’s seen most of the footage…I can assure the millions of Star Wars fans who have spent the last decade hoping for a new movie this one will be worth the wait. And it’s only the beginning of a new era of exceptional Star Wars storytelling; next year we’ll release our first standalone movie based on these characters, followed by Star Wars: Episode VIII in 2017, and we’ll finish this trilogy with Episode IX in 2019.

Some bullet points, courtesy of Slashfilm:

1.Iger has seen most of the footage from The Force Awakens.2.He believes it’s “worth the wait.”3.He mentions the 2016 standalone movie.4.He hints the 2016 standalone movie is about “these characters,” potentially meaning characters from the new movies.5.Star Wars Episode VIII will be out in 2017.6.There is no mention of a second standalone movie, directed by Josh Trank, hypothetically in 2018.7.Star Wars Episode IX will be out in 2019.8.He refers to that film as the end of “this trilogy.” That makes it sound like there will be more.

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"You were entrusted to lead the Republic." - Vote for Ven Zallow from THE OLD REPUBLIC in figure polls!

I think they could possibly missing a lot of opportunities with the stand alone movies. How about a movie on how the rebels stole the Death Star plans, or something from back in the Old Republic? There's a lot of potential there.

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Peacekeeper, when it absolutely, positively has to be nuked in 30 minutes or less. Or the next nuke's free!

Remember anything that Iger says is prewritten by the marketing department. Disney's marketing department can be pretty crappy at times. Look how they handled John Carter. Their marketing on Frozen was terrible and it totally caught them off guard that people responded to the movie despite awful ads were we were convinced that Olfe was the next Jar Jar.